Defend our Public Libraries

On March 13th 2012, several organisations including UNISON, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), Voices for the Library, The Library Campaign, Campaign for the Book and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) will be holding a joint lobby of Parliament calling on politicians to protect vital library services.

In Oswestry, we are indeed fortunate to have a library with excellent, qualified staff who provide a context in which people of the town, from all walks of life, can read, learn, share, communicate and grow.

Oswestry Library has been an important partner in developing The Oswestry Festival of the Word.

Public libraries are a vital glue for a community. It is the one remaining civic space in which anyone can freely access resources for education, for leisure, for research and often for seeking work as it provides computing facilities that every job seeker needs these days.

On top of that, our library staff conduct a whole range of workshops and courses, not to mention regular story-telling sessions for the children.  It truly is a gem of an asset – but the library is not the building; it is the community of qualified staff and library visitors who make it the delight it is.

When times are tough, the public library is one of the few backstops of civic life, a keystone of the community.  The harder life gets, the more valuable a library becomes.

If you feel strongly about public libraries, please consider writing to your own local MP to show your support for the public library service.

FURTHER READING

“Leave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value” by Philip Pullman.